As they debated going to talk to this mystery woman I calmly paid, thanked the server and walked across the road to hand over the giant pink icecream to my smoking hot girlfriend who proceeded to eat the icecream while loudly declaring her love for me and for pink icecream as eloquently as she could. I paid the bill and we strolled across the road, their eyes following us the whole time I swear their jaws hit the ground!

I just smiled back at them as I accepted a taste of Tallgirlfriends delicious strawberry icecream and sneaked a kiss in return. Not a word was said but I do think I ruined their day And if she reads this she'll finally know what I was smiling about for the rest of the afternoon!

I'm going to admit I probably wouldn't have kept my silence if I didn't have Tallgirlfriend right across the street. SMFYO and his friend really needed a reality check if they're teasing random strangers like that and I would've felt obliged to give it before someone else did, with his fists!

So really my good etiquette was entirely her fault! But seeing as she was there, I'd have paraded past them with her even if they hadn't seen her...that was just a bonus

For crying out loud, a guy can't like strawberry ice cream? It's insane how being "manly" has somehow translated into "avoiding everything that might possibly smack of being something that females would like."

But, then, my husband took ballet in college. He got a lot of ribbing about it from his friends, until he pointed out that ballet classes have rather "favorable demographics" if one is looking for a date. I think a few other guys seriously considered signing up once they realized that

And nice on, Tallone! It's cool when somebody is being obnoxious and actually gets the chance to see how foolish they're being right then and there!

I heard a similar story from a guy who signed up for sewing & cooking classes in high school instead of football. He got ribbed until he mentioned helping pin hems & dress straps when the girls were making prom dresses. Not to mention that he got to see nice clean girls wearing perfume in his classes instead of sweaty guys with mud & grass stains on their gym clothes.

Apparently the football team had never thought about the GOOD parts of being the only guy in the class.........

He also knew how to COOK for himself and future girlfriends at HIS place instead of having to take them out to restaurants all the time when he was older.........but that was a benefit that didn't show up until after he moved on to college!

Being a girl in the 1970s, I didn't take shop - although I do know how to do a number of repairs around the house as I was older than my brothers and could hand Dad tools when they were still too young to trust around a toolbox. They did learn, once they were older, but I still remember those lessons. Good thing, I didn't marry a "handyman" so I am the handywoman around our house.

I got a drill one year when the store was having a "Father's Day Sale" - VorGuy said his gift was not having someone else around to do the repairs!

When I was in high school (c. 1975) we had a 'Bachelor Living' class as one of the home ec class offerings. It didn't include clothing construction, but it covered the other home ec topics: clothing maintainence (laundry and mending), housekeeping, budgeting and cooking. The athletes took it en masse, and it was funny to listen to them arguing over who could make the lightest, flakiest piecrust. <G>

When I got to college, I lived in a cooperative living group where everyone had chores. One day I was sitting in the TV room and a girl came down to cook dinner. She asked if I were her partner, and I said no, but I could help her get started and surely her partner would show up soon. I showed her where the menu and recipes were posted, and saw that the dinner was Turkey Tetrazzini. OK, I said, looks like the first step is cooking the pasta, and surely your partner will be here by the time that's done. I showed her where the pasta was kept, and where the pots and pans were.

Ok, she said, how do I cook the pasta?Yes, you read that right, Ehellions, a college freshman who had no idea how to cook pasta.

I've since thought that our public schools should have classes in 'Not being a helpless, malnourished, and shabbily dressed bumpkin'.

Ok, she said, how do I cook the pasta?Yes, you read that right, Ehellions, a college freshman who had no idea how to cook pasta.

I can believe it, the summer I spent at college I split grocery costs with some friends with the deal that I'd cook if the other would help clean. No one minded since I tended to clean up as I went a long, they mainly ended up having the dishes and pots that had the food. However I ended up running impromptu cooking classes. Some of my "students" were in graduate programs and easily 5-8 years older than me.

Then again, I've been cooking seriously since I was 8 and helped my grandmother around the kitchen long before that.

Ok, she said, how do I cook the pasta?Yes, you read that right, Ehellions, a college freshman who had no idea how to cook pasta.

I've since thought that our public schools should have classes in 'Not being a helpless, malnourished, and shabbily dressed bumpkin'.

Unfortunately I can believe this. One of my acquaintences was absolutely shocking at cooking (and isn't much better now) and her diet in our first year of uni consisted of scrambled egg on toast, microwave pasta with microwave pasta sauce, garlic bread, cheese on toast or takeaway pizza. And cereal for breakfast. That was literally all she ate because it's all she knew how to prepare. She didn't want to learn how to make tasty food or even how to cook pasta properly.

A friend of mine was also hopeless in the kitchen when he started uni. He would live on cheese or beans on toast mostly. Fortunately his girlfriend, a very dear friend of mine, is an excellent cook and has taught him some basics and encouraged him to do the cooking for them both.

I don't remember a time when I didn't know at least the basics of how to cook. I've been cooking solo since I was about 7 (not all meals, but mum did let me do the cooking sometimes at weekends and I always had free run of the kitchen to make cakes whenever I wanted to i.e. frequently ). I can't imagine going away to uni with no clue as to how to cook for oneself.